"Look at all the flora and fauna! Too bad Malcolm couldn't see all this!" Bert strolled around, happily gazing at all the new species before his eyes.

"Malcolm didn't seem to be the type who was interested in plants - he was easily bored with his surroundings, if I recall." Mark scoffed and pushed a branch out of his face.

Bert tromped through some thick ground cover. "Yeah, whatever happened to him, anyway? He sure was a jerk."

"He got vaporized by a nano-beam of a Kawashita special forces agent."

"Oh, that's... too bad. I assume you just ran for it?"

"No, I turned to fight all three of 'em."

"WOW, what happened?!"

"It was all a bit of a blur. I don't remember." Mark said coldly, turning away.

Bert decided he'd better stop asking questions, and looked back at his scanner. "Captain Brutus, I'm getting some strange readings - some kind of insectoid life form in this tree!"

"There's lots of beetles and bugs around here. Nothing to worry about." The captain gruffly growled.

Just then, a Massive Malicious Munchmoid leaped on the terrified captain, disproving his statement. THIS bug was something to worry about! The entire crew immediately panicked at the sight of the grotesque creature dropping from the trees.

The Munchmoid landed squarely on the captain, who screamed loudly, muffled underneath the bug's weight. Lew, who was standing next to Mark of Orion, attempted to disarm the bug with his phaser, but was too frightened to aim properly and the shot went wide.

"Wait, sir. It's completely stunned and won't move for days. Why don't we drag it back to the dropship and use it for research?" Mark suggested with a grin.

"Are you KIDDING me?!"

Mark's grin continued. Apparently, he wasn't.

"Ugh. All right. YOU get to drag it back, then." The captain rolled his one eye.

And with that, the slightly shaken and jittery crew headed back to their ship.

...To Be Continued!

(Begin Commentary)

Well, I was completely swamped with school this weekend, but I still wanted to get a little build in for AG. Hopefully I'll have more time in the next few weeks to do something even bigger and better. Here's a final overview shot: